


Can't Cake my Eyes off You

by mistrstank (dreamingdarkly)



Series: Tony Stark Bingo 2019 [2]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Celebrity, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bad Flirting, Bucky Barnes Feels, Dorks in Love, Geek Sidekick Tony, Idiots in Love, M/M, Misunderstandings, Mutual Pining, Oblivious Tony Stark, Pining, Romantic Fluff, Smooching, Tony Feels, Tony Stark Bingo 2019, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, YouTube, YouTuber Bucky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-23 20:38:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17690462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamingdarkly/pseuds/mistrstank
Summary: For Tony Stark Bingo 2019 - Card: T4 - AU: CelebrityIn which Youtube baking sensation Bucky Barnes tries and fails to tell his best friend and geeky sidekick Tony how he feels.~x~“Oh wow!” Tony exclaims a moment later and Bucky’s chest warms with pride. “Galaxy cake, awesome!”“Yeah, you like space, right?” Bucky moves to stand next to Tony, close enough their arms brush. “I thought, someone special should have somethin’ special on their day, y’know?”





	Can't Cake my Eyes off You

**Author's Note:**

> Apparently I'm just rolling with these pun titles. XD 
> 
> Here's my second square, everyone! Ridiculously fluffy and a little less ridiculous in general than the last one! 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!
> 
> Still beta'd by just me, so mistakes probably abound!

“Thanks for watching, everyone, and I hope your galaxy cake is out of this world. See you next time, where we’ll be making unicorn cupcakes.” Bucky smiles warmly at the camera, holding the pose while he surreptitiously hits the remote to turn the recording off. The moment he’s in the clear, he slumps with a tiny sigh. The kitchen is a complete disaster, and so’s his hair - he’s pretty sure there’s glitter in it - but like every episode, he finds he doesn’t mind. His Youtube Channel - ‘Up All Night 2 Get Bakin’ - started after baking became his go to choice of therapy. He’d never expected it to turn into a  _ career _ . Bucky takes a quick look at the list of replies he needs to respond to and the messages on his Twitter page and then shuts his laptop. A mission for later-Bucky. 

 

He spends the next hour cleaning up the kitchen while trying to pretend he’s not obsessively checking the clock. He takes a shower to wash as much of the flour and glitter off as he can and dresses in the tight black shirt Steve says makes him look like a bodybuilder. 

 

“You got this.” He tells his reflection in the mirror, while carefully tying his hair back in that casually messy manbun Natasha says makes him look ‘soft and approachable’. “You’re gonna tell him today.” 

 

The doorbell rings and for a moment Bucky is frozen, his brain looping on the thought that  _ Tony’s here  _ and  _ oh god.  _ For a brief moment he’d rather be back at war than go face down the front door, but sense quickly reasserts itself. Bucky straightens his clothing self consciously and goes to let Tony in.

 

“Hey! You're early.” Bucky grins the moment the door swings wide; Tony looks the same as always (gorgeous) and Bucky could swear his heart skips a little. Tony’s hair is a mess of soft looking waves, flopping into too-big brown eyes that aren’t hidden at all behind blue framed glasses. He’s not wearing his contacts, which Bucky knows to mean that Tony hasn’t slept at all yet. The NASA shirt swamping his skinny frame makes Bucky’s grin widen and he thinks again of the cake waiting inside.

 

“I finished editing the last episode early.” Tony smiles, his eyes somewhere in the vicinity of Bucky’s chest, looking so shy and adorable Bucky’s chest gets tight. He steps back to let Tony in and watches as the other man confidently heads for the kitchen. Bucky smiles a little, inordinately pleased by how comfortable Tony is in Bucky’s space. 

 

“Oh wow!” Tony exclaims a moment later and Bucky’s chest warms with pride. “Galaxy cake, awesome!”

 

“Yeah, you like space, right?” Bucky moves to stand next to Tony, close enough their arms brush. “I thought, someone special should have somethin’ special on their day, y’know?”

 

“Someone special, huh?” Tony grins, but there's something off in the expression, and Bucky’s sure it doesn't reach his eyes. “You holding out on me, Buck?”

 

Bucky blinks, his brain short circuiting for a moment. God, he loves this man, but he also kind of wants to murder him.

“It's your birthday, Tony.” Bucky says, and is proud of how his internal screaming doesn't come across in his tone.

 

“Don't change the subject, Buckster. Who's this special someone?”

 

Bucky stares at Tony in silence for a moment, just long enough for the genius to notice, and then gently grabs Tony by the upper arms. Bucky gently turns Tony to face him and ducks his head a little to meet those expressive dark eyes.

“Tony, I'm talking about  _ you.  _ I made the cake for you, my favourite space geek.” He taps a gentle finger against the NASA symbol on Tony's chest. Tony blinks down at it, as if he'd forgotten it was there.

 

“Oh,” Tony says softly. “ _ For me _ ? No one's ever...that's, that's really nice of you, Bucky. You're a good friend. The best.”

 

Bucky very carefully keeps the disappointment off his face at the word ‘friend’, though everything inside him burns at the choice of words. It’s not fair to put his expectations on Tony like that; it’s fine if Tony doesn’t feel the same way, Bucky is  _ fine.  _

 

“Of course,” He chokes out around the stone in his throat. “Anythin’ for you, doll.”

 

~x~

 

Days later and Bucky is still moping; enough that he’s even willing to admit to himself that is exactly what he’s doing. He’d thought for  _ sure  _ Tony felt the same way about him, but he supposes that might have been wishful thinking. After all, someone can only miss a very obvious attempt to flirt  _ so many times  _ before it’s probably time to throw in the towel.

 

But knowing his feelings aren’t returned doesn’t make Bucky love Tony any less and that...hurts. So he’s maybe a little immature about it and spends a few days hiding in his apartment. He wants to bow out of doing another episode of his show, but when he checks his diary he curses softly.  _ ‘Livestream!’  _ is written boldly and underlined. 

 

Time to see what he has available in the way of materials _.  _ Investigating his cupboards nets a fair amount of cupcake supplies, but nothing hugely exciting. 

 

And then he pulls the candy hearts out, and an idea slowly starts to form. Maybe...Tony was a bit oblivious at the best of times; he’d never  _ said  _ he wasn’t interested, so maybe he didn’t realise Bucky was flirting? One more chance, then. One more roll of the dice.

 

It takes him half an hour to set up the kitchen and to plan out his approach and then he’s ready. He can see his phone lighting up with text messages, no doubt from Tony, but he ignores them and turns the stream on instead.

 

“Hi, everyone, and welcome to the first livestream for ‘Up All Night 2 Get Bakin’! I know I promised all of you Unicorn Cupcakes in the last episode, but I thought we might do something a little special this time. So we’re going to be making candy heart cakes!” Bucky pastes a bright smile on his face, though he really doesn’t feel it. He slides his recipe a little closer and launches into the tutorial.

 

It’s difficult to keep up his usual level of one sided banter with the viewers - his stomach is a twisted mass of nerves - but he works hard at it. He sets aside three different cakes and starts to decorate the first one. He’s just holding up the little pink cake with ‘Be Mine’ on it, when the apartment door bursts open.

 

“Okay, this is getting ridiculous, and I’m not having it anymore. Where the hell have you been for three days, Bucky, you don’t call, you don’t text, I’m starting to think you’re avoiding me, but I don’t know what I did wrong, and after you were so nice and you made me that cake and - oh.” Tony freezes halfway across the apartment, his eyes skipping from the cake in Bucky’s hands, to the camera set up.

 

“Live stream.” Bucky squeaks out, torn between the urge to panic and throw the cake behind him, shut the stream down or just laugh hysterically. Tony’s cheeks flush adorably and he quietly moves to perch on the back of the couch. When all Bucky does is stare blankly at him, he gestures for Bucky to continue. 

 

“Right, sorry about that!” Bucky starts and then has to clear his throat when his voice squeaks embarrassingly. “So, as I was sayin’. I decided to make these candy heart cakes today, ‘cause I’ve got a, well I guess I got a special message and these days it’s easier to talk through m’baking.”

 

Behind the camera, he sees Tony’s eyes go wide and he straightens up. On the screen, comments start going wild as his viewers speculate on what he’s talking about.

 

“So, I thought it’s time to tell this person how I feel about ‘em. How they’re the best thing in m’life, and how they make me smile even on bad days. I love their smile, their laugh, their first thing in the morning grumpiness. I even love their terrible taste in music. I just, I l-”

 

“Wait!” Tony launches up and moves closer, stepping around the camera. “Bucky, I, shit this isn’t how I wanted to do this, and I’m probably too late, and you probably don’t look at me the same way-”

 

“Tony, what’re you…” Bucky blinks and then has to lean back a little as Tony waves an impatient hand worryingly close to his nose.

 

“No, no, let me finish or I’ll never say it and I  _ should  _ have said it, but I was so scared and I’ve never had a friend like you.” Tony stops, and his face is red and his eyes are bright, like he’s about to cry. Bucky slides the cake onto the bench and reaches out to gently take Tony’s hands, squeezing comfortingly. He’s never been able to stand by when Tony cries.

 

“Hey, doll, shh, calm down. Take a deep breath, and then say what ya gotta say. I’m listenin’.” He murmurs, grateful when Tony squeezes back and takes a deep breath in at the same time.

 

“Okay, okay. Bucky, I don’t know who you’re making that cake for, or who you’re talking about, and if they feel the same way then I  _ promise  _ I won’t get in the way, but I want you to know that I. Well. That,” Tony’s voice trembles and Bucky finds himself leaning in without thought. “ThatIloveyou.” 

 

It feels like everything just stops. Bucky’s breath stutters in his lungs, and it his heart feels like it pauses for an eternity and then all of a sudden starts  _ galloping.  _ Tony  _ loves  _ him.  _ Him!  _ It feels like the greatest gift and he’s terrified that he’s going to wake up, or that Tony will laugh and say he was kidding. He stares at Tony, wide eyed and gaping, for so long that Tony starts to twist uncomfortably and makes to tug his hands back.

 

“Tony,” Bucky whispers, and he’s half laughing and half crying. “The cake was  _ for you. _ It’s always for you.”

 

Tony searches his eyes for a moment, as though looking for the truth of it, and then a moment later he  _ smiles  _ like Bucky’s never seen. Tony surges upwards and then they’re  _ kissing  _ and this is the  _ best day ever. _

 

Until there’s a crash.

 

“What was that?” Bucky whispers against Tony’s lips.

 

“Camera, I think.”

  
“ _ Oh shit, the camera! _ ”


End file.
